Occupational and Sports Optometry: Visual Standards, Protective Eyewear and Screen Use

Last updated: November 2026

RPC Rounds for Optometrists · B.Optom study guide

Occupational optometry matches vision to the job: making sure workers can see what their work needs, protecting their eyes from hazards, and solving problems such as screen fatigue. Sports optometry does the same for athletes. Both start with understanding the visual task.

Visual task analysis

Ask about working distances, lighting, screen use and position, colour demands, hazards (flying particles, chemicals, radiation, heat), whether the person works at heights or with machinery, and how long tasks last. The prescription and lens design should follow the task: for example an office lens for a cashier at a screen, safety lenses for a welder.

Vision standards

• Driving (India): standards are set under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules; transport licences have stricter acuity, field and colour vision requirements than private licences. See vision standards for driving and jobs.
• Occupational standards: railways, defence, police, aviation (DGCA) and merchant navy each have their own acuity, colour vision and field rules; colour vision is commonly tested with Ishihara and, for some posts, lantern tests.
• Always test with the patient's glasses and record whether standards are met with or without correction.

Eye protection

Prescription safety glasses must use polycarbonate or Trivex lenses in frames rated for safety. One-eyed patients should wear protective lenses all the time.

Screen use and computer vision syndrome

• Symptoms: eye strain, dry eyes, blur, headaches and neck pain from long screen use.
• Correct even small refractive errors and astigmatism; give an intermediate (screen) prescription or occupational lens to presbyopes.
• Screen about 50–70 cm away and slightly below eye level; reduce glare; take breaks (20-20-20 rule); blink and use lubricants for dryness.
• Check binocular vision (convergence and accommodation) in symptomatic young users. Blue-light filtering lenses have not been shown to reduce symptoms. See computer vision syndrome.

Sports vision

• Correct refractive error, often with daily disposable contact lenses for contact sports.
• Protective eyewear for high-risk sports (squash, badminton, hockey, cricket), especially in children.
• Assess dynamic acuity, contrast, depth perception and eye-hand coordination for athletes; tints for specific sports (for example amber for contrast in low light).

Test yourself: flip cards

Quick quiz

Related: Eye Test for Driving Licence, Railway and Defence Jobs in India, Computer Vision Syndrome Ahmedabad, Sports Eye Protection: Cricket, Badminton, Squash and Swimming Eye Safety, Colour Vision Testing: Ishihara Scoring, Other Tests and Job Rules, Spectacle Lens Materials and Coatings: CR-39, Polycarbonate, Trivex, High Index, Abbe Value and Blue-Cut. Back to the optometry curriculum.

Key sources

• Bureau of Indian Standards. IS 5983: Eye protectors, specification
• Sheppard AL, Wolffsohn JS. Digital eye strain: prevalence, measurement and amelioration. BMJ Open Ophthalmol. 2018;3:e000146
• North RV. Work and the Eye. 2nd ed. Butterworth-Heinemann; 2001